In October 1871, 13-year-old Sophie Caswell longs to escape the dullness of life in her small farming community. Her grand plan is to find fame far away from Yorkville, Wisconsin. Sophie's dreams are thwarted when the Chicago Fire brings chaos to that city, and leads to the arrival of 12-year-old Hans Hoffman and his family at the nearby McEachron farm. While Sophie stubbornly pursues her dreams, Hans struggles to adapt to a world very different from the bustling German neighborhood he once knew. During a memorable winter, Sophie and Hans learn much about life, loss, and the road home, as their families face the challenges of the years following the Civil War. Plank Road Winter is a sequel to Plank Road Summer,  which was a story set in Yorkville in 1852 when two pioneer girls become involved in the Underground Railroad. Winter takes place a generation later, when those pioneer girls are grown up and married with children of their own. CRICKHOLLOW BOOKS is an independent publisher of books for young readers.

Plank Road Winter

Children's Books

Hilda Demuth

Emily Demuth

Literature & Fiction

Crickhollow Books (an imprint of Great Lakes Literary)

This book chronicles Loreen Niewenhuis's latest adventure: a second 1,000-mile walk, this time along stretches of the shorelines of all five Great Lakes. 
The book takes the reader on a ground-level walk through the beauty, the history, and the tender ecology of Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, Superior, and Ontario. 
A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk also leads us on an exploration of self, as the author sets out on foot to explore a region. 
Like her 2011 book of a similarly-epic long trek around Lake Michigan, this new grand hike on the shores of five magnificent bodies of freshwater explores the natural and human history of the Great Lakes, while raising important questions about preserving our wild places and protecting fragile ecosystems on which we all depend. 
Loreen Niewenhuis is the author of short stories, essays, and the book that chronicled her long 2009 trek around Lake Michigan, A 1,000-Mile Walk on the Beach. She lives in Battle Creek, Michigan.

A 1,000-Mile Great Lakes Walk

Science & Math

Loreen Niewenhuis

Nature & Ecology

In Doyli to the Rescue: Saving Baby Monkeys in the Amazon, 10-year-old Doyli, with the help of her family, rescues endangered, orphaned monkeys from the perils of native hunters and the black market. She carries the rescued animals home to her island home in the Peruvian Amazon, where she nurtures them with her strong medicine of love and nourishing food. 
When the little monkey orphans are old enough and strong enough, she releases them back to their natural habitat: the Amazon rainforest. 
This is the first book in Burnham's WAKA (World Association of Kids and Animals) series, photodocumentary books for young readers that highlight wildlife preservation efforts being undertaken by kids around the globe. The stories of personal commitment and environmental activism in projects led by youngsters offer inspiration to all who work to protect animals and preserve their habitats. 
The author visited young Doyli and Doyli's family and school on a trip taken with Burnham's own kids. Together with her family, Burnham travels the world meeting extraordinary, real children saving animals. The WAKA series (additional books to be released this year) shows how people of all ages can work together to save Earth's most endangered animals. 
There is a free teacher's guide available at the WAKA series website: WAKABooks.org.

Doyli to the Rescue: Saving Baby Monkeys in the Amazon

Cathleen Burnham

Animals

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Crickhollow Books (an imprint of Great Lakes Literary) publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Crickhollow Books (an imprint of Great Lakes Literary)